Journalist stabbed after criticising Greek sprinters

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A Greek journalist who alleged the country's two top sprinters
staged a motorcycle accident on the eve of the Athens Olympics to
avoid drug tests has been stabbed and beaten with crowbars as
prosecutors prepare to reveal possible charges against the
athletes.

Filippos Sirigos, 55, the sports editor of the Eleftherotypia
newspaper, was ambushed by assailants wearing motorcycle helmets on
Monday night after he left a radio station.

Sirigos was reported to be in hospital with stomach and head
wounds after undergoing an operation.

He has recently testified that Greece's national heroes,
sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, had faked their
mysterious Games-eve accident to avoid a doping test.

The pair had been tipped to win medals at the Games and their
last-minute withdrawal overshadowed the opening ceremony.

State prosecutors are to release the results of an investigation
into the affair that may lead to charges against Kenteris and
Thanou. Both have said they were innocent of staging the accident
or wilfully missing the drug test.

The attack on Sirigos has provoked a storm of protest in Greece,
with his editor, Serafim Fintanidis, telling reporters that it was
an "attempt to kill him... not an attack to scare him".

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis described the assault as
an attack on "freedom of expression and journalist
investigations".

After a largely successful Games, the attack has exposed the
underbelly of Greek sport, which Sirigos and other journalists have
said was rife with corruption, match-fixing, drug-taking and
thuggery.

Police have also confirmed that the owner of the paper, Christos
Tegopoulos, had received a package containing three camping gas
canisters and a bottle of petrol in what they said was a clear
attempt to intimidate the publication.

Sirigos has written extensively in Eleftherotypia, one of the
country's most respected journals, about the sprinters as well as
about corruption in Greek soccer clubs and drug-taking among other
Greek athletes and weightlifters.

He is being sued for libel by the head of the Athens Games,
Gianna Angelopoulos, after he wrote that she and her husband had
personally benefited from sponsorship deals related to the
Olympics.

Ms Angelopoulos, who had been widely praised for organising the
Games, has reportedly demanded 10 million euros ($A17.2 million) in
compensation for the stories.

Kenteris shocked the athletic world by winning gold in the 200
metres at the 2000 Sydney Games. Thanou won silver in Sydney in the
women's 100 metres.

Greece's love for Kenteris was highlighted in Athens when the
finalists in the 200 metres were roundly booed by the partisan
crowd.

Speculation is rife that the attack on Sirigos was an attempt to
silence him ahead of any court case against Kenteris and Thanou.
Kenteris has insisted that he was unaware he was wanted for a drug
test just days before August's Games.

He said that when they had heard on television that they were
needed for a drug test they had immediately returned to the Olympic
village, but the accident happened on the way back.

A man has already been jailed for giving false evidence that he
saw the accident.

Investigations are continuing into claims that the sprinters'
coach, Christos Tsekos, had diverted 1.5 million euros of
taxpayers' funds into a sports club he owned.

In a statement, the Athens Journalists Union said the attack on
Sirigos was "cowardly and criminal" and was intended to "create a
climate of terrorism for all those journalists who persist in
seeking the truth".